


In Unity

by GoldandScarlett



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, i swore a blood oath never to title this when i wrote it and yet here we are, pseudo happy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25807672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldandScarlett/pseuds/GoldandScarlett
Summary: Kobus hangs out on a spaceship and learns how to make friends that weren't assigned to them by the government.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	In Unity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalcifer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/gifts).



> This fic has been posted soley so that @Kalicifer will look slightly less obsessed by virture of having now not written literally half the fics in the Kobus tag. I assume they will just use it as an excuse to put more fics in the Kobus tag but here we are.

Pretty much as soon as they’d come aboard the  _ Kingdom Come _ , the Makos had sectioned off a portion of it as their own domain, which was fine with everyone else. The  _ Kingdom Come  _ was hardly large enough to offer up half of it to an army of even more chaotic than their original Mako Trig clones, but everyone seemed to regard it as a sacrifice necessary for maintaining peace, and dutifully kept to their own end of the ship. The original Mako was around enough, but he usually prefered to be aligned with the non-Mako half of the ship too, even if he did once yell at Orth for bemoaning their lack of maturity. Kobus was the only non-Mako who actually chose to take up quarters on that lawless end. They liked the Makos; they were different enough from each other while still being predictable, and besides, there was a clannish protectiveness to them that Kobus found familiar and reassuring. 

It did however, mean that they were often ambushed into being a part of what the Makos called “Focus Meetings,” which, although technically meetings, lacked the focus that would have made the term in use legitimate. There was never any pattern to when these meetings would take place either. Kobus might be walking down the hall, and have a Mako spring on them and demand that they allow themself to be dragged into the spare room that the Makos reserved for just such occasions, a dull sort of space which the Makos had spiced up by populating it indiscriminately with office chairs, bean bags, and an old sofa. 

Today though, Kobus was curled up in their desk chair, playing some stupid game one of the Makos had stuck on their tablet for them, when this Mako knocked on their door and then, since it was half open anyways, poked his head in. Kobus could tell each Mako apart, of course. They weren’t all the same person, even if they often liked to pretend they were, and they all had some little individual quirk that would clarify things quickly enough if you knew what you were looking for. They didn’t however, like to use any name for themselves other than “Mako” and Kobus, who knew the importance of a name you could hide behind, could hardly begrudge them this. Although this did mean they had no way of really clarifying with any sort of brevity which Mako they were talking about, even in their own head. It was always,  _ That Mako Who Convinced Me to Break Into the Fake Beach With Them at Three AM  _ and,  _ That Mako Who Found Out I Didn’t Know How to Swim by Dunking Me Under the Water at Said Beach and Then Fogged a Churros Robot to Give Me as Many Churros as I Could Possibly Want Because He Felt Bad About it _ . The problem with this system was that each Mako had a habit of doing exponentially more outrageous things and supplanting Kobus’ most distinguishing memory of him.  _ That Mako Who Found Out I Didn’t Know How to Swim by Dunking Me Under the Water at Said Beach and Then Fogged a Churros Robot to Give Me as Many Churros as I Could Possibly Want Because He Felt Bad About it _ had formerly been,  _ That Mako Who Taught Me That ‘Blue’ Was the Best Slurpee Flavor.  _

This Mako was  _ That Mako Who Told Me That Yellow Was Totally My Color,  _ a discernment that had managed to stick despite a long string of later antics, by virtue of it being one of the first offhand compliments anyone had ever given Kobus, even if they didn’t necessarily agree with him. He was one of Kobus’ favorites. 

“We’re doing a Focus Meeting,” he said. “I saved you a beanbag.”

“How?” asked Kobus. Beanbags were always the first things to go, after which the remaining unlucky Makos had to content themselves with perching on the arms of the couch, or dangling backwards off the chairs. 

In response, the Mako kicked a purple beanbag, which he’d apparently dragged over from the meeting room, into Kobus’ doorway. 

“Oh,” said Kobus. “Nice. Thanks.” 

The Mako flashed them a peace sign, then hefted the beanbag, hugging it against his chest with his too short arms, and started walking back towards the meeting room. 

“What’s the meeting about?” Kobus asked, trotting after him. 

The Mako shrugged. The beanbag slipped dangerously in his arms. “Oh, you know,” he said. “Just like, basic secretarial stuff. It’s kind of boring, I guess.”

“Okay,” said Kobus. The Makos found most things boring, and managed to make pretty much everything interesting. 

They had reached the meeting room at this point, and the Mako handed the beanbag over to Kobus and went in. Kobus followed him in, dragging their beanbag behind them, and setting it down in the corner, next to a Mako who had forsaken furniture entirely, and was lying on the floor propped up on his elbows. 

“Hey,” said the Mako, sounding impressed. “You cheated.”

Kobus flashed them a small grin. They were learning that such petty accusations of disloyalty were compliments coming from a Mako, and as such, the rush of panic that used to accompany them had settled. 

“What’s the meeting about?” Kobus asked them. 

“Oh, just like, boring secretarial stuff,” the Mako said. 

Kobus gave up. 

The meeting turned out to be about birthdays, specifically the Makos’. Someone projected the image of an old fashioned white board onto one wall, and each Mako would fog the system so that their suggestion would appear scrawled on it as they spoke. Theoretically, each Mako was supposed to have a signature color they were using to distinguish themselves; in actuality, the writing was constantly blinking its way through the whole spectrum. The Makos had a fairly similar repertoire of favorite colors, and some contention over it. 

“We could amass them for like, maximum power,” someone suggested, the words dully appearing as he spoke. 

“What if we all pick like, consecutively?” someone else said. “A week and a day of birthdays. We could draw it out into one super long party.” This too, appeared on the board in pink, which flashed immediately to baby blue, and then settled briefly on purple before flashing into red. Kobus decided they needed to stop looking at the board. 

“Kobus, you got any ideas?” the Mako lying next to them asked, nudging them. 

Kobus jumped. For a while, they had simply followed along with whatever bizarre idea the Makos came up with, content to play the role of quiet support, the Makos content to let them. But recently they had started asking Kobus what they thought of things, and coming to them for advice. Kobus found that they were still adjusting. 

“You could just pull them out when it was convenient?” they offered, and almost immediately, their suggestion popped up on the makeshift white board, three different times and in three different colors. One of the colors was a stoically dull grey, that Kobus was honestly a little offended by. Kobus watched all three sets disappear, and then reappear as the Makos silently tried to determine who would write in for Kobus without interrupting the conversation.

“Oh, that’s pretty good,” a Mako said, “Like if someone wants you to do something, you can tell them you can’t because it’s your birthday that day and you’ve made plans.” 

“I bet if we played them out the right way they would lose track of how many birthdays we’d already celebrated and we could use it like, infinitely,” said another. 

“Fish guy would keep track of it,” a third cut in. “They’d make like, a spreadsheet or something.” 

There was a general murmur of assent at this comment, but no one really seemed too concerned by it. 

“So do we wanna vote?” someone asked, and Kobus breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes, the Makos liked to solve their difference through what were, as far as Kobus could tell, low stakes brawls. Kobus usually observed the brawling from the safety of their corner, but they were always happy to participate in a vote. 

“Okay, so it’s random birthdays for our convenience,” a Mako said, once all hands had been raised and counted. “We gotta have one birthday tonight though, cause I already got cake. Who wants it?”

***

Kobus was in the kitchen getting their third slice of leftover cake, their dinner slice, when a voice behind them said, “Have you eaten literally anything else today?” The tone was exasperated, but Kobus thought the speaker was maybe trying to imbue some fondness into it too, just badly. 

Holding their cake close to their chest, they turned to see Cass, leaning against the doorframe with their arms crossed, although they dropped them quickly to their sides when they saw Kobus was actually looking at them. 

“It’s  _ good _ ,” Kobus said, hoping this would be enough to end the conversation. 

It was not that they didn’t like Cass. It was that Cass was so clearly trying to pretend they didn’t dislike Kobus. Kobus didn’t know how one was supposed to behave around someone who had gone from outright hostility to stilted politeness, so conversations with Cass were always accompanied by a buzz of unease. Usually, Kobus just tried to avoid them as much as possible, except now Cass had them cornered in the kitchen and was showing no signs of moving any time soon. 

“Seriously, have you eaten even one vegtable?” Their lip quirked into an almost smile, like the comment was some private joke.

Kobus had absolutely no interest in eating a vegetable. Vegetables did not taste good, not even in the innocuously bland way of the protein bars Kobus used to live off of. But they doubted Cass would accept the logic of this answer. Kobus took a moment to formulate a response, unsure if they were allowed to outright lie to Cass. Cass had never disliked the Makos the way they had Kobus, but they continued to be oddly uncomfortable around them. The Makos, for their part, found this discomfort hilarious, and did all they could to harass Cass, but that didn’t necessarily indicate any real fondness. The Makos were like that with everyone. Mako Prime liked Cass of course, but Kobus’ tie to him wasn’t as strong as it was to the clones, although they did still like him a good deal. Kobus wasn’t sure what all this added up to. The rules were very complicated. 

They must have spent too long deliberating though, because Cass rolled their eyes and shoved themself off the doorframe. “This is what we get for letting the impressionable kid hang out with a bunch of Makos,” they muttered, going for the fridge. 

Kobus wanted to protest that they weren’t a kid, and also that there was nothing wrong with their eating habits, only there was a chance that Cass was going to let them go without further comment, something Kobus did not want to jeopardize. They watched Cass pull an armful of ingredients from the fridge and set them on the counter, unsure whether it would be impolite to leave, They really just wanted to eat their cake in their room without judgment and had just decided to sneak their way towards the door when Cass stopped them. 

“Come by later,” they said, their attention still mostly on the array of vegetables in front of them. “I’m making dinner. You can bring your Makos too, so long as they do their dishes.” (This, said with the defeated tone of someone who knew that no Mako would ever do his dishes unless actively forced.) “I always overestimate how much food I’m going to make, so there will probably be enough.”

Kobus did not ask how one accidentally made enough food to feed nine extra people. They might not fully understand Cass, but they knew enough to know that such questions would not be taken kindly. Besides, they were busy trying to figure out whether Cass was being kind or insulting. Probably it was both. Kobus was not going to think about it anymore, because they were going to take the obvious opportunity to retreat without disturbing the tenuous peace Cass seemed to have made with them. 

“Okay,” they said. “I might do that,” and bolted out of the room with their cake. 

***

“By the way,” Kobus said. They were sprawled on the floor with three of the other Makos, playing video games. A fourth was sprawled across the couch, presumably screwing around in the mesh, although it mostly looked like he was staring blankly at the ceiling. “Cass wants us to eat dinner with them? Or something? We don’t wanna go, right?” 

“Nah, we don’t wanna hang out with that guy,” one Mako said, shooting Kobus a look which was difficult to construe. 

“Yeah,” agreed another. “They’re like, super boring. And Mako won’t even let us make fun of them anymore.” 

“Where are the other Makos anyway?” Kobus asked. 

The one lying on the couch popped into a sitting position. “Mako’s teaching them how to use the Ring of Saturn,” he said. “You wanna go watch? You don’t have to ride it,” he added, although Kobus had thought they’d done a pretty good job keeping their face impassive. 

“Yeah, sure,” they said, getting up. They’d been losing anyway. 

“Hey,” said a Mako, nudging Kobus with his elbow as they headed out the door together. “Did Cass say they were gonna make like, a bunch of extra food for us?”

“I guess, kind of? I mean, they were weird about it, but yes.”

“That was cool of them. You wanna go steal some food later?” 

“Yeah sure,” said Kobus, then felt compelled to add. “They say you guys have to do your dishes though.”

The Mako smirked. 

***

“Hey, buddy,” said Aria, in that sing-song voice with which she started every conversation she had with Kobus. 

Usually, Kobus could avoid that voice, and the uncomfortable pseudo-earnest comments that were always delivered by it, by keeping to the Mako half of the ship. But Aria Joie was currently standing in their hallway. In fact, she was pretty close to their door. She might even have been about to knock on it, if Kobus hadn’t rounded the corner coming from the other direction and distracted her attention. It was hard for Kobus to brush this off as a chance encounter. Aria must want to ask them more questions. The thought made Kobus’ stomach flip. Aria was nice, even if she didn’t really know how to talk to sixteen year olds, and she only wanted to help people, which was why of course Kobus would answer any questions she had, especially since they couldn’t exactly get deeper into betrayal at this point, but that didn’t mean they felt good about it. 

“Hi, Aria,” they said, cheerily as they could because they were happy to help, although maybe they would ask Aria if they could put off the questions until later because their chest was starting to feel strangely tight all of a sudden. “Were you looking for me?”

“Yes! I wanted to ask if you wanted to play  _ Dance Dance Orbit _ with me.”

It was like Kobus’ body went to let out a breath of relief and then just kept going. They could hear the rushing in their ears as all the air got sucked out of their system, and suddenly they were leaning hard against the wall and Aria was hoving anxiously saying, “Kobus? Hey, are you okay?” 

“I’m okay,” Kobus managed, pushing themself off the wall with some effort. 

“Do you wanna sit?” Aria asked.

“It’s the  _ hallway _ ,” Kobus said, sounding more imploring than they’d meant too. 

Aria nodded once, and went to open their door for them. 

“Good. Now sit down,” she said, once they’d managed to stumble their way into their room. “Take a deep breath. Do you want me to get one of your friends for you?”

_ No, absolutely not _ , said Kobus’ brain, but for some reason they found themself nodding. 

“Okay,” said Aria. “Is there one you’d prefer, that would be better with this sort of thing?

There was, but Kobus didn’t trust themself to articulate correctly at the moment, so they shook their head, really wishing they could figure out how to manage more than moving their head around to communicate. 

“I’ll be right back,” said Aria, and Kobus listened to the sound of her delicate footsteps in the hallway, followed by her knocking on the next door over, and the muffled sound of voices. 

Then a Mako slid casually into the room. “Thanks, Aria,” he said. “I got this.”

“Kobus,” Aria said, “you alright with me going?”

Kobus nodded. Probably, their nodding was more vigorous than it should have been. They would be stressed out about that later. 

But Aria only cast them a last worried look before retreating. 

The Mako came and sat down on their bed next to them. “How ya doing?” he asked. 

“I can’t- I can’t breathe,” Kobus managed. 

“Sure you can,” the Mako said. “Here, I’ll count for you.” And then he did, in a slow soothing rhythm, until Kobus found their chest loosening. 

“Why did that even happen,” they said, once they could talk without effort again. 

The Mako shrugged. “Panic attack, dude. Sometimes they just happen.” He cast a sidelong glance at Kobus and added, “Did Aria maybe say something?” 

“Oh.” Kobus looked down at their knees and grimaced. “I thought she wanted my help with something, but she just wanted to play  _ Dance Dance Orbit _ .”

The Mako nodded, sage. “It’s a pretty good game,” he said. “You should take her up on that sometime.” He paused for a moment, then added, “What did you think she wanted help with?”

“Just like,” Kobus turned their hands, one around the other. “You know. Vox stuff, I guess.” 

“You wanna talk about it?” The Mako asked

“Not really,” Kobus said. 

“You wanna be left alone?”

Kobus pulled their knees close to their chest, their toes curling over the edge of their mattress. “Not really.” 

“That’s cool,” the Mako said. “We can hang.” He stuck his hands behind his head and fell backwards onto the bed. They both sat a while in silence. 

“Thanks,” said Kobus, at last. 

“No problem,” said the Mako, sitting up again. “Anytime.” 

“Hey, how did you know what to do with that?” Kobus asked. 

The Mako shrugged. “Kind of read the room,” he said. “But also I looked some stuff up a while ago. Heard someone say something about them.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pixy Stix, which he offered Kobus. 

“Thanks,” said Kobus, taking the Pixy Stix. They wanted to ask who besides them who was having panic attacks, but the Mako seemed disinclined to discuss it further, so Kobus followed his lead on the matter and ate their Pixy Stix. 

“You think you wanna come out?” the Mako asked. “Go do something, maybe?” 

“Sure,” said Kobus. “What are we doing?”

The Mako shrugged. “Something weird will show up on this ship as soon as we go looking for it,” he said. 

***

Aria would probably have felt the need to be really nice about the whole panic attack thing if Kobus had seen her again, which was why they were determined to avoid her at all cost. They didn’t want to make her feel guilty or anything. After all, it wasn’t  _ her _ fault Kobus had freaked out over an invitation to play a video game with her. There was also the worry, which bounced in the back of Kobus’ head, that they might not be able to talk to her at all without freaking out again. They weren’t overly eager to test this, so they’d been avoiding the other side of the ship, except for occasional necessary adventures to grab stacks from the kitchen. But Mako had taken it upon himself to teach Kobus some basic hacking (“Just ‘cause you gotta be able to pirate movies when you need them, ya know?”) which meant that Kobus was in unsafe terrain. 

So when they heard footsteps coming around the corner towards them, they spent an embarrassing few seconds considering whether they could hoist themself into the vents and hide. But the steps were far too heavy to be Aria’s and they didn’t think they had the upper arm strength anyways. And then it was good they hadn’t hidden anyway, because it was only AuDy rounding the corner, and AuDy was alright. Kobus understood AuDy. 

“The rest of the team has been trying to bond with you,” AuDy informed them without preamble. 

“Okay?” said Kobus, mentally running through their memory for any times this might have occurred. Is that what offers of cooking and  _ Dance Dance Orbit _ were supposed to be? 

“I am merely informing you that you will receive no such attempts from me,” AuDy said. “I do not care about you.” 

Kobus smiled a little, despite themself. “Thanks, AuDy,” they said.  “Why bother telling me this, though?”

AuDy hummed. “Subtlety is inefficient,” they said, and turned away. Evidently the conversation was over. 

***

“Kobus!” 

It was Mako’s voice, coming from the Chime’s living room, so Kobus ducked their head in, unsuspecting, and by time they realized that the rest of the Chime was in there with him, it was too late to pull back and pretend they hadn’t heard. 

“Uh, hi.” they said. 

“Hi!” said Mako, waving with the same enthusiasm a five year old might when they saw someone they knew walking past their window. “What are your plans for tomorrow, ‘cause even though we’re all literally terrible at diploma-” 

“Orth’s having a dinner ball tomorrow,” Aria said, cut in firmly. “It’s not a diplomacy thing. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us?”

“Oh, I can’t,” said Kobus, scrambling rather. “It’s uh, Mako’s birthday tomorrow.” 

“What? No it isn’t,” said Mako, from where he was perched, inexplicably, on AuDy’s back. Kobus had no idea why AuDy was letting this happen to them. Probably, it was best not to ask. 

“Uh, not you,” Kobus clarified. “You know.  _ One of _ the Makos.”

“Ah, the kids,” Mako said, dabbing theatrically at his eyes. “They grow up so fast, don’t they, Cass?” 

“I claim no custody over those guys,” Cass said. “That’s all you. Anyways,” they added, looking at Kobus, “Didn’t they just have a birthday?”

Kobus didn’t like the way Cass was eyeing them, eyebrows all pinched together. Clearly that one Mako had been right to worry about the spreadsheets. “Uh, they all picked different birthdays,” they said. “To like, show their individuality?” 

Cass opened their mouth to say something, then shot a look at Mako, who was now sitting very straight and fiddling with one of AuDy’s antenna with an extreme focus. Cass thought better, closed their mouth, and then opened it again. “Uh, Wish him happy birthday for me?” they said, shooting another glance at Mako, who continued to fiddle with AuDy’s antenna, but had at least allowed his posture to droop. 

“If you continue executing this undue maintenance upon me, you will be forcibly ejected,” AuDy said. 

Mako patted AuDy on the head once and slid down their back, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. “Can we come?” he asked.

“Uh, probably? I’d have to ask Mako. Birthday Mako,” they added quickly. “But don’t you have your thing?” 

“Well, yeah,” said Mako. “But obviously if we’re doing a birthday celebration we would blow that off. What’s Orth gonna do, really. Right guys?”

“Of course!” said Aria, which was kind of weird, because Aria usually at least  _ pretended _ she liked diplomacy. Maybe she’d been telling the truth about the nature of the party. 

“Fine,” said Cass. 

AuDy made no comment, but Mako patted them again in a way that suggested their presence to be a given. 

“Well uh, I’ll go ask him,” Kobus said, sliding along the wall towards the exit. “And uh, let you know?” 

“Thanks, dude!” Mako called after them.

“Yeah you do that,” they heard Cass mumble, followed by a muffled thump and then an “Ow!  _ What,  _ Aria?” Definitely making a spreadsheet. Kobus sighed. 

***

“Guys, I’m really sorry,” Kobus said, later that night. They and the Makos were draped over various furniture in their living room, eating pizza. 

“Ooh, what’d you do?” a Mako asked, around a mouthful of pizza. “And remember we’re all criminals here, so try to leave an impression.”

Kobus bit down a laugh, because it would be no good to have the Makos thinking that they didn’t take their transgression seriously and said, “the chime people wanted me to go to a thing with them, and I uh, really didn’t want to, so I kind of told them one of you had a birthday that day. Which was really unfair because I know they’re your birthdays to use as excuses. It just kind of came out? And also they want to come,” they added, in blurry rushed afterthought. 

“Kobus.” one cut in. “That’s  _ sick.  _ This is why we  _ went _ with this plan.”

“Yeah,” another said. “Way to abuse the system. Besides, the birthdays are like, for everyone. So who cares. Use ‘em whenever. Who’s keeping track.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Kobus added a bit sheepish. They were relieved that the Makos were not angry with them, but the reaction had thrown them, made them call into question the weight they’d laid on their own guilt, and now they had no way of knowing what information the Makos would take with real gravity. “Cass is definitely making a spreadsheet to chart our birthday usage. They were making faces the whole time I was talking.”

“Ah, well,” said a Mako. “We knew they would. We just have to pay attention I guess. Keep it down to roughly eight. You know. There will probably be something distracting enough that they’ll lose track of at least one.” 

“When’s  _ your _ birthday, Kobus?” another asked, interrupting what seemed to have been the beginnings of a heated spreadsheet heist planning debate. 

“Um,” Kobus said. The room settled into heavy silence. They could feel their face heating up, as their brain scrambled to think of an answer that they could deliver without sounding pathetic, and then despaired when it realized that Kobus had now taken long enough to speak that anything they said would at very least, sound incredibly awkward. 

“Kobus,” said a Mako, getting up right in front of them, and laying a hand, with exaggerated gravity, on their shoulder. “This is a super serious question. Do you want to add your birthday to our stockpile of birthdays?” 

What Kobus wanted to do was fling their arms around the Mako in gratitude and also maybe cry, but they liked to think they knew how to act with a little more dignity, so they kept their voice neutral as they said, “I guess it’s only fair.” 

The Mako’s expansive smile twitched a little at the edges. “No, Kobus, I’m like. Actually serious. ‘Cause that does super suck for you and if you want to actually pick a meaningful day for your birthday we’re all totally cool with it.” 

“I’m serious too,” Kobus said, delivered in a mumble which was directed mostly at the ground. Sure, everyone in the room was a Mako but they were still all  _ looking  _ at them, and Kobus didn’t think they would ever be comfortable with quite that much attention. “It’d be kind of cool to have it be like, part of the group?” 

“ _ Nice, _ ” said the Mako, pumping his fist. “Okay guys. We pull out Kobus’ birthday for special occasions  _ only.”  _

“Not fair!” came the immediate protest. 

“Yeah, are you gonna take the birthday they just blew on getting out of going to a dinner ball?” another shouted. 

“They’re  _ collective, _ ” the first Mako hissed back, and the room descended into chaos. 

***

The Makos had learned to amp things up after their first birthday party the month before, which had mostly been all of them flocked together around the couch, playing shooter games and wolfing down cake in the brief periods between their character’s deaths and resurrections. 

This one had music, some colorful lights, and a few items of food that were actually not cake, although Kobus naturally ignored these last additions. They were leaning against the wall while they ate their cake, keeping a wary eye out for Cass and their unsolicited nutrition facts, even though the food they’d made all that time ago had actually been pretty good, even if it had had tomatoes in it, but it was Aria who made a beeline for them from across the room. 

“Kobus!” she said, sounding faintly breathless as she came to a stop beside them. “Do you think-” She paused to gesture expansively across the room. “I don’t know which one’s birthday it is,” she admitted. “But do you think he’d like fireworks? ‘Cause I can do fireworks. And I know a girl; I can get some pretty good explosions going on.” 

“I think he’d probably really like fireworks,” Kobus said. 

Aria grinned. “Thought so,” she said. “I mean, my Mako would. But I figured I’d double check.” She cast a meaningful look at Kobus’ cake, which they had been eating in noticeably small bites, to avoid finishing it and having to think of something else to do. “Not much of a dancer?”

Kobus shrugged. “I don’t really know how,” they admitted. “I like the music, though.”

“First off,” Aria said, “I doubt this crowd would have any room to judge you. But also, I could teach you, if you wanted.” 

“What, with  _ Dance Dance Orbit? _ ” 

Aria gave a gasp of exaggerated affront. “That’s not dancing!” she said. “That’s stepping on boxes when a game tells you to!” 

“Sounds like I really missed out,” Kobus said, before they could stop themself. 

“Oh my God,” said Aria, around a burst of laughter. “Good one.”

“Thanks,” said Kobus, ducking their head to hide the small smile that was trying to sneak its way onto their face. 

“Hey,” said Aria, sobering, “I wanted to apologize for-” but Kobus cut her off.

“You really don’t have to,” they said. “You didn’t even do anything.” 

They could feel Aria scrutinizing them, but she only said, “Okay,” and patted them on the back. “You still have an open invitation if you ever wanna play me,” she told them, her tone thankfully light once more. “But I’ll win.” She winked, a sweeping Aria Joie idol wink, like it had been specifically manufactured to make her eyelashes wobble. “I’m going to go blow some stuff up for your friends,” she said and then she was gone. 

Kobus took another tiny bite of their cake, but when it was finished, they set their plate aside and went to go dance with a few of the Makos. Aria was right, after all. They were all pretty bad dancers. They kept accidentally hitting each other in the face and then folding themselves in half laughing over it. Kobus ducked their flailing arms and laughed along with them and when the party wound down, they all scrambled up onto the roof of the  _ Kingdom Come  _ to watch Aria shoot off fireworks in an impressively diverse gradient of pink. 

Then it was over and Kobus watched various Makos sliding off the side of the  _ Kingdom Come  _ in a way that made them seriously reconsider their opinion on the  _ Ring of Saturn _ . Getting on it and flying down was starting to feel a lot safer than sliding. 

“Don’t do what they’re doing,” Mako said, coming up behind them quietly enough that Kobus jumped. “There’s handholds.”

“What?”

“For getting down the ship? Like, I will admit this is way cooler but you looked kind of nervous so I thought I’d mention. Also I wanted to talk to you. Cool?”

“I guess.”

“Listen-” Mako started, but he was interrupted by Cass, shouting across the roof of the ship.

“Mako, you coming?” 

“Be there in a minute!” Mako bawled back, before turning back to Kobus.  “AuDy says I should ask if you’ve been avoiding us,” he said. 

“I don’t avoid you,” Kobus replied. 

Mako scrunched his face up, obviously frustrated, and tried again. “AuDy says I should ask if you’ve been avoiding like, the group. You know, Chime Time? I didn’t just call it that. Whatever. Anyways, did they make you uncomfortable or anything?”

“ _ AuDy _ said you should ask me?”

“Okay, well they were a little more threatening about it but essentially, yes.” 

“ _ AuDy?” _

“AuDy’s like, a huge softy and we all know it. Never tell them. Are you avoiding the question?”

“No.”

“So why haven’t you answered it?” 

Kobus sighed. “They don’t make me uncomfortable really,” they said, and were almost surprised to find that it was true. “It’s just- it’s weird, you know? Everything’s really weird.” 

Mako laughed, low and uncharacteristically sharp around the edges. “Yeah,” he said. “Everything's pretty fucking weird. You get used to it, I guess.” 

“Yeah,” said Kobus. They were seized with the bizarre urge, suddenly, to reach out and squeeze Mako’s hand. Mako raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing, only squeezed back. “I guess you do,” said Kobus. 

**Author's Note:**

> au where all the Mako clones adopt Kobus is creds to [ Kalcifer ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer) obviously.


End file.
